Specifications:The most compact and lightest in the history of fast zoom lenses. Thanks to the revolutionary downsizing "XR" technology employed by Tamron in the development of high-power zoom lenses such as the 28-200mm and 28-300mm, the dramatic compactness that makes this lens the world's smallest and lightest is achieved. Its compactness makes it look and feel like an ordinary standard zoom lens, yet the versatility that a fast constant maximum aperture offers will definitely reshape your photographic horizons.

It was the first lens I purchased after I received my camera. I purchased other 3rd party lenses after this one. However, the image quality from this one always rose above any other lens. Images were sharp.

My frustration was the 28mm wide end. When I took indoor photos, I was surprised with how limiting the wide angle was. I purchased a 24-105 and the 4mm difference was significant. Also, I didn't like how much the lens would work to focus in low light. This resulted in many candid photos being missed.

It would make a very nice travel lens and it has enough reach for certain portrait shots as well.

Jun 16, 2010

surf monkeyOfflineImage Upload: On

Registered: May 23, 2005Location: United StatesPosts: 2800

Review Date: Apr 13, 2010

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9

Pros:

Excellent IQ, good color, good sharpness at f2.8, very sharp and contrasty stopped down a bit, lightweight & compact, good zoom range

Cons:

Zoom & manual focus rings are wobbly, AF hunts in low light, AF is not as fast as Canon Ls, some CA

Excellent all-around performer for a walk-around lens on a full frame camera. Better IQ at equivalent FLs to the Canon 17-40L, expect in AF performance. Much more compact & lighter than the Canon 24-70L.

I didn't like it on my 40D and didn't use it very often, but much better now on my 5Dmk2.

Apr 13, 2010

emandaviOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Feb 15, 2005Location: United StatesPosts: 998

Review Date: Apr 6, 2010

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $380.00
| Rating: 10

Pros:

Awesome lens for weddings and full frame camera. Sharp. I had this lens, sold it and bought a Canon 24-70 2.8L, sold the Canon, and bought this lens again. I had so many focus problems with the Canon lens. This is my walk-around lens, and this lens gets used extensively on weddings (especially on full frame cameras).

Cons:

Hunts focus sometimes, but then, so does my Canon "L" lenses. When it gets that dark (like reception rooms), I just focus manually.

Comparable to Canon "L" lenses. I know! I've owned most of them (16-35L, 35 1.4L, 50 1.2L, 85 1.2L, 135 f2L, 70-200 2.8L IS, ETC.). This is a gem of a lens, and for 1/3 the price you would pay for a Canon L lens. Buy it, and enjoy!

This is a wonderful lens with bright and sharp optics for my two Canons with their 3:2 aspect ratio. Lightweight with a very close focusing range, I've used it extensively. Here are some examples: http://www.pbase.com/steeleumc/north_carolina - http://www.pbase.com/steeleumc/image/54108537 - and there are more examples scattered about in other galleries. Even though I purchased a 24-70L for focusing reasons, I kept this lens as a backup due to its optical quality and still consider it one of the best bargains as well I've found.

My one negative is inconsistent, quick focusing. Most of the time, it responded quickly and accurately. Sometimes I had to press the focus button two or three times to insure a good focus. [I've programmed my focus button to be separate from the shutter release.] This is not a problem with landscapes and some portraits but not what I wanted for sports and candid photography; perhaps the newer models have improved in this area. I was able to purchase a used Canon 24-70L at a good price and it consistently focuses more quickly.

Not sharp. No weather seal. AF is kind of slow, really hunts in low light. No red ring ;)

I sold this lens when I bought a 24-70L. It was worth it to me. The weather sealing and IQ outweigh the weight of the L lens. This is a good lens - as good as my 24-105L was. It, however, is not a 24-70L and that is what I was truly after.

Oct 30, 2009

marconisOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Aug 12, 2008Location: United StatesPosts: 0

Review Date: Oct 27, 2009

Recommend? no |
Price paid: $395.00

Pros:

seemed sharp but I never used it for more than 20 photos because it vignetted so badly on the 5D Mark II

Cons:

vignettes at all focal lengths on the 5D Mark II

This lens vignettes at all focal lengths on the 5D Mark II. I took it back to the camera store, they also tried a different copy of this lens on a different 5D Mark II and it also vignetted. It does not vignette pointed at the sky but every indoor shot had noticeably dark corners at all focal lengths. The camera store salesman was confused why they were doing this and tried to call Tamron.

No VR, 28mm not very wide on DX (obviously), Zoom ring a little wobbly, Focus ring turns with AF

Bought this lens second-hand and I absolutely love it! The image quality is outstanding, very sharp with no visible CA, perfect focus accuracy and blissfully creamy bokeh. Being my first f/2.8 zoom I will say the inevitable: once you go to 2.8, you can never go back!

Absolutely nothing bad to say about the lens, struggled to come up with the cons above. One possible con is if you are unfortunate enough to have the built-in motor version; Tamron AF lens motors are horribly slow and inconsistent. I specifically hunted for the Nikon screw-drive AF version and am glad I did; my AF speed is easily twice as fast as the Canon youtube AF speed test video for this same lens.

Highly recommended!

Feb 24, 2009

ashleyOffline[ X ]

Registered: Feb 14, 2003Location: United KingdomPosts: 12

Review Date: Feb 24, 2009

Recommend? no |
Price paid: Not Indicated

Pros:

Competitively priced and good optics

Cons:

badly let down by poor quality control

I bought this lens about 2 years ago for use with my 1Ds II on a specific job where it wasn't convenient or pragmatic to regularly change prime lenses. At first it was very good and I was more impressed than I expected for a lens of this price.

Roll forward about a year and I noticed that the lens was suddenly front focussing which it hadn't done before so I called Tamron who agreed to adjust it but at a cost of over £60 and it took them a month before it was returned. All seemed much better when it returned and I used it back in October for a studio shoot with a model and saw that the results were very close in sharpness to my 85mm Canon prime, but it didn't last...

A couple weeks ago I wanted to use it again and fired off a few test shots just to see how it was handling and discovered that it now appeared to be back focussing but when I looked closer I saw that the right side of the image was in perfect focus while the left hand side was now really soft and the middle was focussed to the rear of where I intended. It seems like that a lens element has moved and its now next to useless requiring another trip to Tamron.

I shall call Tamron about this and see if they will repair it again under guarantee but frankly I have lost patience with this lens if the build quality and reliability is this poor. In 20 years of professional photography I've never had a lens go wrong like this and especially after so little use. This is the 2nd Tamron I have bought in the last few years and on paper they look like excellent value but both have been huge disappointments so I shall not be buying their lenses again.

The real shame in all of this is that when it was performing well it was clearly a very capable little lens and very useful. Wide open it wasn't perfect on the full frame 1Ds II but after stopping down a couple of stops it was pin sharp.

This morning I took delivery of a 24-105L and its a lot more money but the initial test shots show that it can compete on an even footing with my primes at all apertures and the focus is absolutely precise. I guess you get what you pay for in the long run.

Feb 24, 2009

jamey_ccOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Apr 8, 2008Location: United StatesPosts: 93

Review Date: Feb 18, 2009

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $350.00
| Rating: 9

Pros:

Sharp even if it cost more, but for this price its crazy!

Cons:

build quality

I had this lens for 4 years with my 20D and always thought, "well, I must have one of those soft versions" but now that I have a 5dMKII I realize I just had a soft camera. It's amazing! I don't even sharpen my images in post production anymore. I was considering a canon L but now I think I'll focus that money on a wide zoom L instead.

I'm as pleased with the sharpness and bokeh on this lens as I am on my 70-200L f4. Infact, on my 20D I used that lens most, on my 5dII I haven't used it but twice so far.

I get a bit of movement in the front end that since I bought it has made me nervous, but after 4 years it's never been a problem and the lens keeps chugging along.

Feb 18, 2009

rhembeinOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Apr 30, 2008Location: CanadaPosts: 408

Review Date: Oct 24, 2008

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $350.00
| Rating: 10

Pros:

Everything!!!

Cons:

Nothing!!!

Excellent lens! I was delighted by the color coming straight out of the lens! BEAUTIFUL! As though I have a ND or CP filter on it!! Sharp! Quick! Light! Can't say a bad thing about it! I use it in every type of photography and it rarely leaves my Canon 40D... except to go on my 5D!

Oct 24, 2008

zakb7OfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Apr 25, 2005Location: United StatesPosts: 0

Review Date: Oct 6, 2008

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 8

Pros:

small, f/2.8, sharp

Cons:

buzzy autofocus

I've tested this lens and its spawn, the 17-50mm f/2.8. This is an older design meant for film cameras; my camera body has an APS-C sized sensor. So to my eyes, it looks like 45-120mm. Of course, unlike the 17-50, this one will work on "full frame" digital camera bodies.

On a crop-sensor camera, the focal length is nothing special...at the wide end. But an equivalent 120mm at f/2.8 at the telephoto end, that's pretty cool. The shallow depth of field combined with a mild telephoto focal length is fun to have.

I found it to be fairly sharp wide open, probably due to using a smaller-sensor camera with a full-frame design. And really, at this price point, lenses like this aren't going to ace sharpness tests in the corners wide open.

Landscapes I shot at f/8 were extremely sharp. In fact, from f/4 onward I found this lens to be much sharper than expected. Not that sharpness equals good pictures in all cases, of course.

It's built well, though not cumbersome. If you have a film camera or a full-frame digital camera, this would be a great walk-around lens. And at f/2.8, you'll get some pictures indoors you'd never get with slower consumer zooms.

So I gotta hand it to Tamron, this is a pretty good lens, especially for what it costs.

Oct 6, 2008

guydownthetretOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Aug 30, 2008Location: United StatesPosts: 0

Review Date: Aug 30, 2008

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $320.00
| Rating: 8

Pros:

light and inexpensive

Cons:

soft @ 2.8

I had this lens for about 2 months and got tired of it. It sucks at focusing in low lighting (I started shooting weddings and need accurate focusing indoors). I might have had a body copy but it isn't very sharp at 2.8 even with post work. I found it acceptable at 4.0. I may have a bad copy though. The bokeh at 2.8 is great even when stopped down the 7 aperture blades look fine if you aren't scrutinizing your bokeh. For the price, this is a great lens, its small, inexpensive and I would recommend it to anyone who wants something similar to the 24-70 L but doens't want to drop 1k on a lens. (get a flash... photography is all about lighting anyways)

I upgraded to the 28-135 f3.5-5.6 i lost those stops in aperture but I gained IS, USM, and a longer range. the tamron is sharper than the 28-135 at all stops and focal lengths as far as I can tell. But IS, accurate/quiet focusing and that reach is important to me.

Aug 30, 2008

Chuck KuhnOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Feb 24, 2003Location: United StatesPosts: 3891

Review Date: Jul 8, 2007

Recommend? no |
Price paid: $317.00
| Rating: 6

Pros:

Price

Cons:

Cheaply main body.

I've been shooting with this lens almost 3 yrs. I stopped using it 1 yr ago, because of warranty issues with Tamron. I had trouble with zooming and lens would lock up. I took it to warranty repair in Long Island NY. 3 weeks later they asked for $276 to repair, claiming it was in Shock. Well, I was Shocked, since I could buy a new one for another hundred bucks. The lense itself worked wonders. After reading other reviews on warranty issues, the 6 yrs limited warranty was something I didn't want to deal with. Again the light weight body and build was my issue. I buy nothing but Canon now. My travels take me all over and I need something Sturdy, Well Build and I'm must also admit I'm not as careful as I should be with equipment. Frankly I missed the weight and structure of a well build lense.

Jul 8, 2007

phreeky82OfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Aug 22, 2005Location: AustraliaPosts: 0

Review Date: Jun 4, 2007

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9

Pros:

Quite sharp at F/2.8, very sharp from F/3.2 onwards

Cons:

Zoom ring rotation direction, not silky smooth movement

I got for AU$400 2nd hand, and absolutely love this lens. At F/2.8 I've found it to be very acceptable, only the slightest of softness. From F/3.2 my copy gets very sharp, and stopped down any further it is beyond the resolution of the sensor of my 300D.

The zoom ring being the opposite to canon is a little annoying - I honestly didn't think it'd worry me at all, but it does a bit - but that's not a negative on the lenses part at all. The movement of the zoom ring also isn't silky smooth, it feels a tiny bit tight around 35mm or so, but still quite acceptable.

The Auto/Manual focus switch is fine, the zoom lock is for example better than that on the Canon 70-300 IS USM in my opinion, and the included lens hood fits quite nicely and is nice and strong.

Also am impressed with absolutely zero barrel wobble.

Jun 4, 2007

Chow MonkeyOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Mar 4, 2007Location: NetherlandsPosts: 1

Review Date: May 26, 2007

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $200.00
| Rating: 9

Pros:

Sharp

Cons:

None

Have this lens for a year now. In this range I think it's the best buy. Sharpness is amazing. Does well in lowlight situations. Built is ok. Awesome for streetphotography.

May 26, 2007

Rahul RanganOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Jan 7, 2007Location: United StatesPosts: 134

Review Date: Mar 12, 2007

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $420.00
| Rating: 9

Pros:

Sharp, saturation, very contrasty (is that even a word? :-))

Cons:

Sometimes slow to focus, cheap and plastic build quality. Loud AF

I actually traded in the Canon 24-70 f/2.8L for this lens and I am so glad I did. Less than a third of the price for a lens that has a sharper AF. The only major drawback for me is the annoyingly loud AF.